Acer Katsura project#2

[BobbyLane]

This is one of two Katsura maple, recent purchases from wholesale tree nurseries, actually this one is from a garden centre...

picked out for its superb radial roots and twin trunks.
still a young tree and quite raw, but i feel it has some potentiol

 

[BobbyLane]

i cut back a chunk of the rootball with a saw.found a suitable training pot to accommadate a good sized rootball.i would like to get some swelling in the trunk and develop a balanced structure with stronger branches lower down. the shoulders up n down the trunk will send out new buds in a few weeks, you can see these bands clearly.
i think its been grafted? but the graft is very low on the trunk and doesnt bother me much,

 

[BobbyLane]

just needs time

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

Nice. It has a good future.

 

[AlainK]

Nice. It has a good future.

+1

 

[BobbyLane]

so this area here where the bark is a browner colour, is that a graft or just where the base has aged more?

 

[ajm55555]

so this area here where the bark is a browner colour, is that a graft or just where the base has aged more?

The bark is ageing. When there's a graft most of the times you will see some pretty clear lines where the cut happened, which will never completely go away.

 

[Nanuk]

Nice tree. Going to be a good project. I agree that it looks to just be growing its bark.
I don't see a graft.

 

[BobbyLane]

Some stunning colours on this katsura maple, thought i'd share

also mossed up the root base a little more as per @derek7745 's suggestion
20190423_172158 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20190423_172033 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
20190423_172105 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr
2019-04-23_05-37-25 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr


i sort of hoped i'd get something popping at the base, because i think this would make a great clump, maybe a three tree clump. a bud has popped in an ideal location another bud is barely visible off n up to the right of first one
2019-04-23_05-42-46 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

could eventually see something like this emerging from the material
20190423_172158 by Bobby Lane, on Flickr

 

[Deleted member 21616]

looking good! I was only repeating what i read somewhere here on bonsainut of course

I like your idea for a third trunk! But I wouldn't wait around that fragile bud to grow! Personally (if I may) I would eventually air layer a thicker branch off the top and graft it down below once it was growing steady on its own roots (via a more likely approach graft or possibly a thread graft). This is interesting to me because it could be a simultaneous root graft and addition of a trunk, and it would be exactly where you want it! See below for inspiration

Did you happen to keep any of the branches that you pruned off?

@MACH5 :

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/japanese-maple-5-progression.10700/

https://www.bonsainut.com/threads/arakawa-japanese-maple.11825/page-2

Michael Hagedorn:

https://crataegus.com/2009/01/21/japanese-maple/

https://crataegus.com/2009/03/29/japanese-maple-update/

https://crataegus.com/2010/03/22/japanese-maple-year-two/

D

 

[BobbyLane]

cheers mate and thanks for the suggestions. i have indeed seen all those links.
im more in the camp of letting the tree show you what it wants to do. im quite happy for this material to be a twin trunk tbh, but the emergence of a new bud or two in ideal places gives me ideas. i had anticipated this might happen, as there is a strong, healthy root mass.


ive now positioned the tree so that area gets full sun, to give the new buds the best chance. ive also pruned off any buds that wont be needed all over the tree. tree will be fed well. should the bud build up a head of steam, the shoots above will be constantly pruned back to 3-2 or 1 leaf or node. you would be surprised how fast a new shoot will thicken when you carry out this work in other areas.
i would be happy for a low bud to start as a low branch before developing into something more substantial down the line.

update in a few weeks

 

[Deleted member 21616]

looking forward to it! my katsuras do the same back-budding, but i've always rubbed them off. Curious to see what happens when you leave them on in favorable conditions like yours

 

[BobbyLane]

2nd prune of the season
just thinning out vigorous areas, cutting back to two where there is three emerging, trimming off opposing branches which commonly cause inverse swelling on maples, removing crotch growth which tends to cause ugly knuckles

 

[BobbyLane]

i reduced the left trunk, the tree is heading towards an asymmetrical shape..
got a little taper in main trunk

 

[BobbyLane]

or tilting the main trunk more upright, maybe somewhere in between in time.

 

[BobbyLane]

this one is another strong grower can kind of see where its headed now...
still establishing the low shoots while keeping the top in check. constantly removing areas in the crown where 3 or 4 shoots emerge from one.only want two from one.
also getting movement into the lower shoots from early....the two low shoots on the right were sagging from the weight of leaves, wiring them up n out gives them a chance to become strong, while also being my preferance for deciduous trees aesthetically

 

[BobbyLane]

earlier in the thread i mentioned that should a bud emerge from the base, then i would let that develop into a third trunk...a couple of buds tried n failed. but the latest basal shoot came from the centre of the two trunks and grew strongly, almost a foot long now, it will be left to thicken.
just put some movement into it.the tree is growing but slowing now.
this third trunk will be positioned more to the rear to give the tree perspective and depth. this is an example of the material letting me know what it wants to do. the third trunk will look natural, because it naturally grew this way, it wont look like its been stuck on

 

[Warpig]

Love the leaf color. I might have to check on tracking one of these down.

 

[Woocash]

Love the pagoda look of the right trunk, even if it is early developmental. Personally, I’d accentuate that and treat the smaller trunk as a sparse leaning companion rather than creating a fuller canopy.

 

[BobbyLane]

here it is without leaves, i think the balance is quite good between both trunks and there is the option of developing a third trunk in the middle...
these are just the basic lines, it can be left to grow out now

maybe a third trunk wont be needed and could have the middle branch cut shorter, used for depth, have it veering off to the back